2007 is about to leave the building. I am starting to think about the year that was and unfortunately, not too much of it was really good. I will probably write more about that later though.

This morning I have to take DS#1 to grocery shop and then I have to go pay my taxes. Boy does that suck. I could think of lots of other things to spend that money on. *sigh*

On the stitching front, I am finishing up my second exchange square from the COBS board (one is going out today) and then I am going to start Hannah's Treasure box from Indigo Rose Designs. That was one of the classes I was supposed to take at the Celebration of Needlework Show I didn't get to go to. I can't wait to get my hands on it, the colors are gorgeous!

Here is an ornament I finished off from the 2007 JCS Ornament issue. I mounted it on a giant covered button form and I just love how it turned out. I may have to make another one so there is on for each of the boys.

This one is M Designs Merry Christmas Needleroll and another one off my stash busters list. I love this finished off... I can't post the exchange square until I know she has it so that will have to wait. I am glad we started the Stash Buster group so I can knock off some of this stuff that has been sitting around! LOL



OK ... off to pay the tax man!! BLAH!!

that life was just beyond you? Everything was beyond what you could tolerate or accept or even deal with. My car is having problems, work is nuts, family is well, let's just say "beyond". I am supposed to be getting together a holiday and I don't even want to. I want to curl up in my chair with a good movie and my sewing or a book or music and let the world recede for a while. I am so tired of juggling everything. I am tired of even trying to juggle everything. Maybe I am just tired.

I find myself longing more and more to become a recluse. Not having to deal with anything. No wonder my Christmas wish for this year was just PEACE.

a few finishes for the last week or so. The stocking will be for my MIL (who has never had one). The Poinsettia and Santa are from JCS 2007 ornament issue and the blue pieces are from a Dimensions leaflet called Holiday Elegance.

I am off for 2 days and was planning on making some Christmas goodies so since I had to take groceries to my MIL's last night, I got some baking stuff as well. I got to my MIL's and she is all wrapped up in a blanket...not normal at all. Then she starts with this huge wracking cough. After a huge fight, Tom took her to the ER and sure enough, she has pneumonia yet again. She is a COPD patient so it is overly easy for that to happen. She is insistant she is not going to be admitted to the hospital and is being nasty and argumentative. So instead of being able to stay home today I now have to go get her prescriptions and such. I will probably be coming right back but just the fact that I have to get dressed and go...blah.

To top it off I am having one of those days where all I want to do is cry, the weather is cold and dreary and I can't get interested or motivated in anything. I did get a bracelet made but I am not happy with it so it will have to come apart. I was stitching an ornament and messed that up too. I guess I will stop and rent a tear jerker movie on the way home and then at least I will have a reason to cry huh?

I finished the sampler this morning!! It took 39 days start to finish. Now I just need to get it framed and shipped.

I have also been playing with some beading since my trip to the imfamous Union Bead boutique so here are some things I have finished. I bought MORE stuff yesterday and don't have a clue what I am going to do with all the finished things but I am having fun making them! Guess they will make good stocking stuffers!












And last but not least, my Thanksgiving tart. It tasted as good as it looked. The guys want another one for Christmas! (stop it Pam, I know the counter was dirty, I was baking!!)

Everything has been cooked, eaten and cleaned up. Now other than walking the dog for the night, I can relax for a bit. I have to be at work at 4:30 tomorrow morning so I need to put my feet up.

It was a strange sort of day since we are less than 2 months gone from losing my FIL. I haven't cooked a Thanksgiving meal in 20 years since he wouldn't eat any one's cooking but his own. Sitting at that table today was really weird without him.

Tomorrow the BIL and wife will be here. They are sooo concerned about mom that they will drive out and get here about 3 tomorrow and leave on Saturday morning. How much good do they figure that will do her? Oh well, I will be a good girl once again. I have some yummy pork chops ready to grill and potatoes to bake so it will be an easy dinner. I can get a nap when I get home and still be at my MIL's before they get there. Works for me.

OK, back to stitching and watching a taped Oprah show of Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts.

The eyelets in the boarder are a bear trying to keep them nice and neat when there are 20 stitches in each one. I love the ribbon stitched behind each of the hearts in the border. I still haven't figured out if I am going to put the baby's breath in the wreath though, I really don't like it but it could use some filler. I will probably find a way to add in some beads.

Now I have to get dressed and head to work. How cruel is that?

into the Thanksgiving Crush. *sigh*

I have had two days off and while I guess I accomplished quite a bit of stuff, I didn't really get much of what I wanted to done. Frankly I just wanted to sit and sew... Unfortunately, not much of that happened.

I don't have to be a work until 11:30 today so I still have some time to sew but I am doing laundry and such so I will be up and down, distracted. I close at work and then have to go get Mark from a birthday party while Tom goes and gets Tommy from Maineville. Tom has been at his mom's for 2 nights since Mark has a bit of a cold and I didn't want him around her.

I have been playing with a myspace spot that I am primarily using to interact with friends from work. I am old and they are young and this is a midway point. I found some folks from HS there so I may not be too far off my course! LOL

OK, back to my needle and thread!

I was feeling off yesterday...kind of like I was getting a cold but I didn't have any sore throat or anything. I got to work and cashiered for a while and realized I was aching like I was getting a fever but I didn't have one. At dinner time I took two Tylenol and got through the night but I was restless like something wasn't right and work was really pretty easy last night.

I had a hard time getting settled and getting to sleep but that isn't unusual since I worked until 9 but at midnight I woke bolt upright in bed because I thought I heard the dog having a seizure (she wasn't) after that I could NOT get settled. I was in the throes of trying to get an anxiety attack all night long. Bad dreams, racing heart, dry mouth the whole 9 yards. Today I feel like I have taken a beating. I need to crawl back into bed but I need to be at work at 11 and I want to stitch since that usually gets me back on an even keel but I can't even get into that this morning since I just feel like I want to pace (or hit something)... Man, I haven't had one like this in probably 2 years; not even when Tom's dad was dying. It's nuts.

I guess I will go fix some breakfast and see if I can get myself under control. *sigh*

Here is today's picture. I didn't make as much progress as I had hoped and now there is no way that I can have this finished and framed by Thanksgiving. Oh well, I should still make the December wedding deadline, I just have to figure out how to ship it safely.

It was a busy week and becoming enamored with the bead place and jewelery making hasn't helped. I have made 4 pairs of earrings now and have stuff to play with bracelets and earrings too. *sigh*

News on the home front is my Uncle's leukemia is officially in remission! He is very weak and worn out but he is doing ok and now the treatments are behind him should be able to gain some strength. PTL!

Work sucks...that sums up that week.

Mark's Veteran's Day ceremony took place in a deluge so he wasn't happy. I don't know if Tommy went to his dinner or not.

OK, off to get dressed and go to work. *sigh* What a way to ruin a day!! LOL

THOUGHTS ON VETERANS DAY
from General Douglas MacArthur

It is the SOLDIER, not the reporter, who has given us freedom of the press.

It is the SOLDIER, not the poet, who has given us freedom of speech.

It is the SOLDIER, not the campus organizers, who has given us the freedom to demonstrate.

It is the SOLDIER, who salutes the flag, who serves the flag, and whose coffin is draped by the flag,

Who allows the protester to burn the flag. AMEN.

God bless our military; past, present and future.

God and the Soldier, we adore,
In time of danger, not before.
The danger passed and all things righted,
God is forgotten and the Soldier slighted.
— Rudyard Kipling

Somehow, I managed to get two days off. I enjoyed yesterday immensely for the most part.

I went to the hospital to see my friend who while being in a good deal of pain, seems to be in good spirits and is very lucky to be surrounded by a loving family even if they are always there! (sorry E!! :-))

After I left there I went to a place I had never been before and oh my, I think I am in love. When my kids were little and I had to go into a store where I didn't want them handling things (for whatever reason) I would tell them to put their hands in their pockets. I felt like that was what I should be doing as soon as I walked into the store. The store is the Union Bead Boutique. They have a rainbow in there. I am not a jewelery person, I don't plan on making it, I don't wear a lot of it but this place just made my creative juices over flow. Their web site doesn't do anything to promote this store. The people were awesome and helped me design a bracelet that was inspired by a bracelet that I saw in a stitching catalogue. I can't wait to go back and pick it up today. They have a gazillion things for my needlework from beads to charms and special centerpieces for things like biscornus.

After that I hit the grocery and picked up stuff for dinner since it was just Tom and I. I hadn't been in this particular store for a long time and I was surprised to find out they had added some gourmet foods including an antipasti bar. I snagged some lovely ripe green olives stuffed with feta cheese which I had for a snack driving home.

I came home and figured out where the mistake was in that stupid bow, ripped it out, started over, and discovered there was a second mistake that I hadn't found, ripped it out, started over again and once I knew it was right, I put it down to go play on the computer. I quit the computer to watch Ghostwhisperer and was in the middle of Woman's Murder Club when Mark called and told us he had called 911 for his grandmother. Mark is there this weekend so Tommy can go play with his buddies. By the time we got there, the life squad had come and gone. She had decided not to go to the hospital but Mark didn't think to call us. *sigh* I think she is having anxiety attacks. She has been trying to clean out my FIL's stuff and it is overwhelming her. I need to get her to the doctor next week and see what he suggests.

I am going back to the bead place to pick up my bracelet now and I may stop at HL but probably not since I have taken the Stash Buster Pledge with Pam. (but I have a 40% off coupon!!! isn't that a waste???) I need to go and get right back since I have the house all to myself today. Tom and Mark are going to TKD and then back to MIL's. When Tommy get's back T&M are going to a party for a new black belt. Chick flix and chinese food for me. *big grin*

When I heard the start of this story, I have to admit my hackles went up big time. The story starts when a "church" in Topeka, Kansas decides to picket the funeral of a soldier. They were thanking God for his death claiming that was God's way of punishing homosexuals. Albert Snyder, the father of a dead soldier who's funeral was picketed took offense to that...*sigh* I can't imagine why (yes that is intended to be sarcastic)...so as Paul Harvey says, here's the rest of the story. Unfortunately, I doubt if those people will have learned their lesson. I personally think some hard jail time and the revocation of their 501c3 would be a place to start. (any politicians with some guts out there?) Then just for giggles, since they believe God hates, the US, Canada and (do you believe it) Sweden, may I suggest deportation. Perhaps to Iraq. We wouldn't want you to live in a land that the Lord hates!

I can't think of another story I have found so entirely distasteful in a long time. To think that my family and so many others has fought for these people's right to have freedom of speech. Shame on them. To Matthew Snyder's father I say, more power to you. God bless your son. God bless all our military.

I wanted to post before I headed out to work this morning. I got some stitching done while I was at my MIL's this weekend but truthfully, I stitch better at home in my own chair with my own light and my own "space". I am making good progress but it seems like it is taking forever now because I am doing the wreath and I am constantly switching colors. Fortunately, I own a Pako Needle Organizer So I am able to thread up needles of each color and just work from section to section. The satin stitch hearts are done with 4 strands of floss so I have 2 needles for that color, one loaded with 2 strands and one loaded with 4.

I have a real dilemma though. This pattern calls for little pieces of "baby's breath" to be stitched with perle cotton throughout the wreath. The blossoms are done with french knots. OK, maybe this is two problems. 1) I really hate doing french knots. I can do them but I really hate it and 2) I just don't even like how the baby's breath looks. I don't like it in the wreath. I thought about doing the stems and using beads for the french knots but I don't like how that looks either. I am not sure how I will work this out. *sigh* there is always something.

Ok, off to get ready for work!

Here's where I am on the sampler. I took an ecru break and put the words on the bottom last night and this morning. I still have the 2 upper corners of lacework to do. That lacework is backstitching back and forth on every row to fill an area. It looks really neat but is very tedious. Yesterday at work I couldn't figure out why my one finger was so sore and it is from the amount of stitching I am doing! That is the finger that guides the needle under the fabric. I put a bandaid on it to cushion it but that was more trouble than it was worth so I will just have to "suffer"!

I am so pleased with how quickly this is going. I am doing absolutely nothing else when I sit down but stitching. I still don't think I will make my self imposed deadline. I know I will finish in time to ship it for the wedding but I would so much rather send it home to them when his parents are out over Thanksgiving.

OK, back to stitching!! Time is limited for a bit today as I have to take my MIL to the foot doctor again and I am spending tonight and tomorrow with her while the guys go to a TKD tournament in Louisville. I am taking my stuff though!!

I was driving home today and was listening to my "classic" Rock station when my senior class song came on.(Forever Young by Rod Stewart). I was listening to the song (and remembering all the words in spite of the fact that is has been nearly 30 years) and starting thinking about what an excellent choice that song was for a senior class song. It still fits today.

May the good lord be with you
Down every road you roam
And may sunshine and happiness
Surround you when you're far from home
And may you grow to be proud
Dignified and true
And do unto others
As you'd have done to you
Be courageous and be brave
And in my heart you'll always stay
Forever young, forever young
Forever young, forever young

May good fortune be with you
May your guiding light be strong
Build a stairway to heaven
With a prince or a vagabond

And may you never love in vain
And in my heart you will remain
Forever young, forever young
Forever young, forever young
Forever young
Forever young

And when you finally fly away
I'll be hoping that I served you well
For all the wisdom of a lifetime
No one can ever tell

But whatever road you choose
I'm right behind you, win or lose
Forever young, forever young
Forever young ,forever young
Forever young, forever young
For, forever young, forever young

I can close my eyes and still see my friends, as they were of course, hear their voices, see their smiles. Some of these people I have stayed in touch with and "grown old" with and some I am just in touch my mail or email. Some have passed away so young, too young. In my mind, they are and I am forever young.

Hearing that song coming home today is ironic since today I have been thinking about mortality. One of the cashiers I work with is in the hospital. He has had terrible back pain and severe headaches. He'd been to the doctor and heard ruptured disc in his back, chronic sinus problems, kidney stones... and now they tell him he is full of tumors. As of last night, they didn't know if is was cancer or not. I haven't heard anything more today. He is in his early 20's. My heart is breaking for him and his family. I am so sick of walking through life with cancer hanging over my shoulder, taking my family and friends. He's a good kid you know? We talk about all kinds of things. We tease and share books and views, jokes and fetishes. He makes me laugh and he makes me feel young. I so desperately hope that those things will never change. Please pray for this young man and those who love him.

I have the "skeleton" done. I did a little bit of the lace work too. It called for using 2 strands of floss to make the mesh but it was way too heavy for my tastesso I used one. I think it looks good. I wish I didn't have to go to work today! Doggone it!!

I managed to get a day off and to myself today. Yesterday one of the other COS's asked if we needed anyone to work tonight and I gave her my hours. I have done nothing but run when I am not working so today I did only what I had to do and just lazed around for the rest of the day. Tomorrow it will be back to the race but today is slow motion.

I ran this morning and got some new jeans and picked up some of the stuff Mark will need for his SAREX (search and rescue exercise) this weekend. His CAP squadron is going to eastern Kentucky for level 1 training. It is supposed to get pretty cold so I picked up a new sleeping bag among other things. I was home by noon and baked 2 huge pans of brownies for the Children's Miracle Network luncheon at work tomorrow. Other than that, I played on the computer and stitched. I was sitting out on the patio but I think it has gotten a little too chilly for that now so I am packing my stuff up and heading in for the night.

I am making Tuscan chicen and raviolini for my dinner. Don't know what they guys are having. It is TKD night and they won't be home until late.

Well, considering how much I have ripped this week and how little actual stitching time I have had, I am not too disappointed. I need to ramp it up though in order to have this completed and framed by Thanksgiving!

the frog came to visit. I had the bottom left rose done and had started up the left side when I realized I was one stitch off. Since in my ignorance I had decided to do the other half of the ribbon, I then had to rip all the ribbon and the right side out in order to make it right. Now I have very little to show for my one morning off. *sigh* oh well, I am off tomorrow other than taking my MIL to the doctor and making some calls for her so maybe I can get something else done at some point... I am so depressed! WAAAAHHHHH!

Here is the biscornu I ended up sending to Kathy (on the left) and the one she sent to me (on the right). I love mine, it is a gorgeous shade of blue!

I love seeing other people's work and sharing mine too!!

As soon as I finished the Irish Blessing Sampler, I started one for my nephew who is getting married on December 15. Not a lot of time to get something done but since I have done it for his brother and his sister, I feel I should continue the trend.

This design is taken from 101 Best Loved Designs from Cross Stitch and Country Crafts. These are all designs taken from their magazine (in this case the May/June 1986 issue) which I loved. I probably have the magazine filed away somewhere which would tell me the designer but the book does not (I hate that!) In any case, I had a sampler all picked out and while searching for an alphabet to finish Irish Blessing, I stumbled on this one an it grabbed me...you know how that goes. It is really fairly simple with only 6 colors of thread plus perle cotton. I will substitute beads for the french knots since I think that will pretty it up (and I abhor french knots). In any case, I am posting a picture of the sampler in the book, my progress to date (which isn't too bad considering I didn't start it until Saturday evening an I worked all day Sunday and Monday!)and a closeup of the rose in the bottom right corner.

In other news, it is raining, raining, raining!! As of about 15 minutes ago, we have gotten over 3.5" in the last 24 hours and it didn't start raining here until about 2 yesterday afternoon...needless to day, we now are under a flood watch. Northern Kentucky has been under a severe drought short more than half of our normal rainfall for the year so we sure need it AND I am glad it isn't snow! The earliest I can remember snow here in the 20+ years we've lived in Kentucky is October 13 and we have had snow several times for Halloween.

OK, enough chatting, back to stitching since I don't have to be at work until late this afternoon!!

Some days are just satisfying. Today is one of them. I have gotten so much done, not the least of which is finishing off Sweetheart Tree's Irish Blessing Sampler which I started in May for a wedding in June but then totally got sidetracked on. The beadwork took a lot longer than I expected but that was ok because I watched 2 movies (the Holiday and Prime) while I was doing it. In between, I got some cleaning done too so all in all a satisfying day!

I also "transplanted" things from the stitching journal I started a couple of weeks ago into a larger book since the one I had wasn't going to shut and I only had three projects in there. I will use that book for a journal eventually so no harm, no foul! I am glad to have started this journal and wish I had done it a long time ago. It is so nice to have pictures and information all together. I always end up forgetting what thread I used or fabric after a while and it's nice to know those things. who knows, maybe it'll be famous some day! :-)

And it isn't even noon yet! We had some threatening weather move through here, some with the threat or tornadic activity so when I turned out the lights last night, I was sleeping lightly listening for whatever may have come. We finally got some torrential rain about 1 AM but other than that and some lightning, we escaped the brutal stuff. I had to be up at 4:30AM though since DS #1 has Battle Assembly this morning and we have a 1 1/2 hour drive to get there. We left here a little after 5 and I was heading back when DS #2 called. His alarm clock didn't go off and he missed the bus. I was at least 40 minutes from home and was thinking I could get some breakfast and run my errands early so I could be home doing what I wanted to do on my day off but....I rushed home, picked him up and took him to school where he ended up being a 1/2 hour late. Of course, the school thought it was their duty to make me feel like a derelict parent... *sigh* It's now just after 8 so I head to Wal-Mart to pick up the stuff I need there, then on to Sam's club to pick up my prescription that I forgot yesterday (and of course, I am off today and tomorrow and I am out of pills right?) Then I stopped at Lowes to get a new switch for my MIL's lamp and decided I would call my MIL's foot doctor's office back since they didn't return my call on Wednesday or Thursday and well, now I am a little pissy. Of course today is the doctor's day off and apparently he actually gets to take a day off so he was not available and neither was anyone else to answer my questions so I told them fine, I would do what I thought was right and find another doctor that gave a sh*^ and hung up. I called our GP and I am taking her in this afternoon. She has an ulcer on her foot that they have been messing with since May and now I have the doctor telling me to not let it dry out and the home health nurse telling me it has to dry out. SO hopefully our GP will at least tell me if it is ok, getting worse or getting better. It looks better but what do I know?

So I went to my MIL's and dropped off the switch for the lamp, made sure she had something easy for lunch since no one is there and told her I would be back to take her to the doctor this afternoon. Then I came home and unloaded my groceries, ate a bowl of cereal and now I am trying to decided if I want to nap before I have to head out again or if I want to sew which was my basic plan for the day in the first place! All I have left on the Irish Blessing Sampler is the beadwork and I really want it finished. I probably really need a nap though since sleep was elusive last night. I have to be out of her in an hour and a half so who knows... Probably no nap since I jus remembered the garbage hasn't been put out yet either. *sigh*

Send him by email, snail mail...add him to your blogs and web pages. Raise awareness!!

I have almost finished the Irish Blessing Sampler. Thank goodness for the Needle and Thread board that makes me focus on my projects so I won't be embarrassed to say I didn't meet my goals! LOL

I graphed out a couple of different ways to do the names and date before I settled on one. I got the names on this morning and started on the date. I hope I can finish that tonight and get to the beading. Then I should be able to finish that when I get home from work tomorrow! That would be AWESOME!!

While I was looking for an alphabet to do the names and date, I stumbled across a pattern for a wedding sampler I had forgotten that I had. I think that is the one I am going to make for my nephew's wedding. I will have to take a hard look at it though since I would love to have it finished so it can go back to PA with his parents when they are out here for Thanksgiving. That may be pushing it. The Sweetheart Tree one I originally planned on would take much less time. Decisions, decisions...

I open at work tomorrow so I have to be there by 6 and then I think I am out at 1:30. I am off Friday and Saturday other than taking my son to Maineville for his Battle Assembly. He will be at Fort Know this weekend for weapons qualification. I know he is looking forward to it.

OK, that's it for now. I have to go check out Stitch Pink since I see there are new posts.

I got the vines finished at the bottom of the Irish Blessing Sampler this morning. I just have the shamrocks and then bead work to go. There aren't a ton of beads so that shouldn't take too long. I also have to graph out their names and wedding date. That I think I will stitch over one. I am putting that below the sampler itself so it will be a custom mat but I think that is the best way to do this. I can see daylight here!! Happy Dancing on my way to work... who would have thought??? ROFLOL

I did make good progress on my Irish Blessing Sampler today. Of course, more ripping than sewing occurred I think! I probably would have been finished if not for that but I am quitting now as my eyes just don't seem to want to focus. Another day like today and it will be completely finished. Boy that feels good!

It was nice to be doing so little today. I made a pot of potato soup for dinner and that was about as strenuous as it got. I needed some down time. Tomorrow is schedule day at work so I will be in the liquor store from 10-5. More down time. NICE!

I was planning on going to a Sauerkraut festival with a friend today and she has too much to do so it looks like that is off. I was kind of torn about going anyway since I would love to have a day at home just goofing off for a change but I would have enjoyed the festival as well...In any case, I decided that I would sit outside and enjoy the day stitching on my Irish Blessings sampler which is a way over due wedding present. Well those plans aren't quite working either since I had one and a half rows finished when I discovered the first row I did was off by one thread (of course at the very beginning) so the second row was off too and so everything has been ripped out and I am starting again. I thought I would take a little break first though to adjust my mind set. I really want this sampler finished and I don't really have that much left to do. I can make a good dent in it today if I get going and get going correctly! :-)

I also found a neat freebie Halloween pattern which would make a nice Halloween Needle roll on the Whispered By The Wind website and it is calling my name!! I think I will promise myself that if I finish the Irish Blessing Sampler, I will do the NR. Then I will finish another of my goals before I let myself start anything from the JCS Ornament Issue I got this week. I think my first ornament will be either the poinsettia ornament from Brittercup or the Cardinal from Crossed Wing. I haven't decided yet but I need to get back to my sampler and get it finished before I need to make a decision anyway right?

I started a stitching journal this week. I am taking pictures of each piece as I finish it, and in some cases as I work on it and putting them in the book along with information about what kind of fabric, threads, designers etc. If I am mailing it for an exchange I will list that information as well as where it went. I have meant to do something like that for a long time but I am finally making a real effort at it. I keep a regular journal as well but this will be totally separate from that.

ARRRRGGGG. I was planning on attending the Celebration of Needlework conference in Louisville last month but was unable to when my FIL was put into the hospital and everything went into a tail spin. When I contacted the promoters...before two days before my classes, they were going to pick up my kits for me since they couldn't give any of my money back unless they sold my spot (which was probably unlikely) but I really wanted the kits anyway. They told me 2 weeks ago that my stuff was being mailed out (keep in mind the conference was a month ago) and I have been patiently waiting. I finally emailed and asked where my stuff was since I haven't gotten it and they informed me that they didn't get the one kit and they were still waiting for the designer to send it to them. They don't know how long it will be. Doesn't that just stink? They have had my money since MAY. Now granted it was my choice (sort of) to not attend but for goodness sake.

On the plus side that is less to distract me from what I should be stitching on but on the other hand, I am tired of being patient!! *sigh*

my first finsh in October!! YIPPEE... This is a freebie from Michaels. I stitched it on a 28 count fabric I got years ago that is actually a pink floral but it is hard to see unless you are looking at the entire piece of fabric.

Quote of the Day
The whole point of getting things done is knowing what to leave undone.
Oswald Chambers

I find this particularly funny since I have to go to work at 11 today and I have housework tat needs to be done but I would much rather be stitching... I think I just got permission!!! ROFLOL I just leave the housework undone!

Life is short!

This came from a friend today... it's pretty insightful.



If they know of him at all, many folks think Ben Stein is just a quirky actor/comedian who talks in a monotone. He's also a very intelligent attorney who knows how to put ideas and words together in such a way as to sway juries and make people think clearly.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The following was written by Ben Stein and recited by him on CBS Sunday Morning Commentary

Herewith at this happy time of year, a few confessions from my beating heart: I have no freaking clue who Nick and Jessica are. I see them on the cover of People and Us constantly when I am buying my dog biscuits and kitty litter. I often ask the checkers at the grocery stores. They never know who Nick and Jessica are either. Who are they? Will it change my life if I know who they are and why they have broken up? Why are they so important?

I don't know who Lindsay Lohan is either, and I do not care at all about Tom Cruise's wife.

Am I going to be called before a Senate committee and asked if I am a subversive? Maybe, but I just have no clue who Nick and Jessica are.

If this is what it means to be no longer young. It's not so bad.

Next confession:
I am a Jew, and every single one of my ancestors was Jewish. And it does not bother me even a little bit when people call those beautiful lit up, bejeweled trees Christmas trees. I don't feel threatened. I don't feel discriminated against. That's what they are: Christmas trees.

It doesn't bother me a bit when people say, "Merry Christmas" to me. I don't think they are slighting me or getting ready to put me in a ghetto. In fact, I kind of like it. It shows that we are all brothers and sisters celebrating this happy time of year. It doesn't bother me at all that there is a manger scene on display at a key intersection near my beach house in Malibu . If people want a creche, it's just as fine with me as is the Menorah a few hundred yards away.

I don't like getting pushed around for being a Jew, and I don't think Christians like getting pushed around for being Christians. I think people who believe in God are sick and tired of getting pushed around, period. I have no idea where the concept came from that America is an explicitly atheist country. I can't find it in the Constitution, and I don't like it being shoved down my throat.

Or maybe I can put it another way: where did the idea come from that we should worship Nick and Jessica and we aren't allowed to worship God as we understand Him?

I guess that's a sign that I'm getting old, too.

But there are a lot of us who are wondering where Nick and Jessica came from and where the America we knew went to.

In light of the many jokes we send to one another for a laugh, this is a little different: This is not intended to be a joke; it's not funny, it's intended to get you thinking.

Billy Graham's daughter was interviewed on the Early Show and Jane Clayson asked her "How could God let something like this Happen?" (regarding Katrina)

Anne Graham gave an extremely profound and insightful response. She said, "I believe God is deeply saddened by this, just as we are, but for years we've been telling God to get out of our schools, to get out of our government and to get out of our lives.

And being the gentleman He is, I believe He has calmly backed out. How can we expect God to give us His blessing and His protection if we demand He leave us alone?"

In light of recent events...terrorists attack, school shootings, etc. I think it started when Madeleine Murray O'Hare (she was murdered, her body found recently) complained she didn't want prayer in our schools, and we said OK.

Then someone said you better not read the Bible in school. The Bible says thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, and love your neighbor as yourself. And we said OK.

Then Dr. Benjamin Spock said we shouldn't spank our children when they misbehave because their little personalities would be warped and we might damage their self-esteem (Dr. Spock's son committed suicide). We said an expert should know what he's talking about and we said OK.

Now we're asking ourselves why our children have no conscience, why they don't know right from wrong, and why it doesn't bother them to kill strangers, their classmates, and themselves.

Probably, if we think about it long and hard enough, we can figure it out I think it has a great deal to do with "WE REAP WHAT WE SOW."

Funny how simple it is for people to trash God and then wonder why the world's going to hell.

Funny how we believe what the newspapers say, but question what the Bible says.

Funny how you can send 'jokes' through e-mail and they spread like wildfire but when you start sending messages regarding the Lord, people think twice about sharing.

Funny how lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene articles pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion of God is suppressed in the school and workplace.

Are you laughing?

September Goals:

Finish Irish Blessing Sampler Not yet, never touched it
Finish Exchange Squares One done up to putting my name and beads on it, I worked on the other one too but it's not even close...
Biscornu for exchange and maybe just for me!! :-) two done, one almost finished....
Considering the month of September this year, I think I am lucky to have gotten that much done...*sigh*


October Goals...

Finish this last biscornu
Finish Irish blessing sampler
Finish exchange squares and mail them!!
Start my nephew's wedding sampler, I would like to get it to them when they come visit at Thanksgiving.

You know of course, everything will get put aside if I find the JCS ornament issue or end up ordering it from Elegant Stitch!

it's been a week today since my FIL passed away. It is amazing how many details need to be taken care of in a time when rational thought seems impossible.

Tom's brother was in charge of the arrangements but of course did not care to do what we asked so instead of having a closed casket like his mother wanted, Tom wheeled his mother into the room looking right at his dad! Talk about shock. In addition, we had requested that no flowers be sent, that the money be sent to the hospice instead...the funeral director neglected to put that part in the obituary and Tom's brother bought over $200 worth of flowers that we had to split with him! All I could think of was that $200 would have paid for someone who couldn't afford it to have nursing care for a day...or medicines...I guess after looking 4 fammily members in 10 years to cancer, I have a much different perspective on these things. It still would be nice to have our wishes respected though.

Mom's Overture. 2 minutes and 55 seconds of laughing for any mom! Enjoy!

Here are the lyrics in case you can't follow them all... not as funny without hearing them though!

William Tell Momisms
by Anita Renfroe
sung to the William Tell Overture

Get up now, get up now, get up out of bed,
Wash your face, brush your teeth, comb your sleepy head.
Here’s your clothes and your shoes, hear the words I said,
Get up now, get up and make your bed.

Are you hot, are you cold, are you wearing that?
Where’s your books and your lunch and your homework at?
Grab your coat and your gloves and your scarf and hat.
Don’t forget, you’ve gotta feed the cat.

Eat your breakfast, the experts tell us it’s the most important meal of all,
Take your vitamins so you will grow up one day to be big and tall.
Please remember the orthodontist will be seeing you at three today,
Don’t forget your piano lesson is this afternoon so you must play.

Don’t shovel, chew slowly, but hurry, the bus is here,
Be careful, come back here, did you wash behind your ear?
Play outside, don’t play rough, would you just play fair?
Be polite, make a friend, don’t forget to share,
Work it out, wait your turn, never take a dare,
Get along, don’t make me come down there.

Clean your room, fold your clothes, put your stuff away,
Make your bed, do it now, do we have all day?
Were you born in a barn? Would you like some hay?
Can you even hear a word I say?

Answer the phone, Get off the phone,
Don’t sit so close, turn it down, no texting at the table.
No more computer time tonight,
Your ipod’s my ipod if you don’t listen up.

Where you going and with whom and what time do you think you’re coming home?
Saying thank you, please, excuse me, makes you welcome everywhere you roam.
You’ll appreciate my wisdom someday when you’re older and you’re grown.
Can’t wait til you have a couple little children of your own.

You’ll thank me for the council I gave you so willingly,
But right now I thank you not to roll your eyes at me.
Close your mouth when you chew, we’d appreciate,
Take a bite, maybe two, of the stuff you hate.
Use your fork, do not burp or I’ll set you straight.
Eat the food I put upon your plate.

Get an A, get in the door, don’t be smart with me,
Get a grip, get in here or I’ll count to three,
Get a job, Get a life, get a PhD, get a ????

I don’t care who started it,
You’re grounded until you’re 36,
Get your story straight and tell the truth for once for heaven sake.

And, if all your friends jumped off a cliff, would you jump to?
If I’ve said once I’ve said it at least a thousand times before,
That you’re too old to act this way,
It must be your father’s DNA.

Look at me when I am talking, stand up straighter when you walk.
A place for everything, and everything must be in place.
Stop crying or I’ll give you something real to cry about.

oh

Brush your teeth, wash your face, get your pj’s on.
Get in bed, get a hug, say a prayer with Mom.
Don’t forget I love you (kiss)

And tomorrow we will do this all again
because a Mom’s work never ends.

You don’t need the reason why,
Because, Because, Because, Because,
I said so, I said so, I said so, I said so.
I’m the Mom, the Mom, the Mom, the Mom, the Mom!

Ta-Da!

From the ASP blog...

During this holiday season, let's show our troops we love and support them!!!! From OCTOBER 1 to NOVEMBER 24, I will be collecting holiday cards for troops stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan. Being away from home and living in harsh conditions during the holiday season is especially difficult ~ they need to know we have not forgotten them!!! Mail from home helps to keep our troops' morale strong, making a very real difference in their lives.

Send your signed, unsealed holiday cards to:
Mrs. Kathy Orr
OPERATION: LOVE FROM HOME
P.O. Box 1660
Loganville, Georgia, 30052

The cards can be handmade or store-bought. This is a great opportunity to get your Scout troop, school, church and other civic organizations involved in doing something to show support for our troops.

If you wish to send an email greeting,which will be printed off and mailed along with the holiday cards, please send an email to: LoveFromHome@Gmail.com
*IMPORTANT GUIDELINES: This is not a "dating service" of any type. Please do not send suggestive or otherwise inappropriate cards or materials. Please also refrain from making political statements of any nature. I will be reading and screening every card received to ensure that the above guidelines are adhered to. Remember: This is strictly to let the troops know that we love them, we are proud of them and that we HAVE NOT FORGOTTEN them! IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS, PLEASE CONTACT ME AT LoveFromHome@Gmail.com

Please note that “Operation Love From Home” is not a coporation or business entity of any kind , nor do I as an individual represent any other organization that I am or may be affiliated with.

We have had the hottest driest summer on record here. Yesterday it rained almost all day and I swear you could almost hear the trees weeping for joy. I know we all wanted to be out in it. It is funny how a gray day can be so enjoyable when you haven't had one in such along time. Truth be told though I love rainy days anyway. They are a perfect time to curl up with a book or sewing and just slow down.

I went yesterday afternoon and paid my FIL's bills and balanced his check book. Bless his heart, he is still hanging in there although I don't know how. He is not in pain but is in and out of consciousness.

Most of the day I spent just doodling around. I spent some time trying to get a new template up for my blog and didn't find anything that I liked that actually worked so I gave that up. I messed around looking at new patterns I "needed" and hence the Wish List that is going up today and I sewed some. Now that the weather is getting cooler, I can get back to my afghan (it was just too hot to have that big thing laying in my lap). I am running out of September to complete my September goals on the Needle and Thread board too. This morning, I have to get busy and pay some bills since today's date just really dawned on me. I don't know where this month has gone! I work today but am off tomorrow. Unfortunately, tomorrow is the TKD tournament here so I have to take my MIL to see the guys and she wants to go shopping as well so my day will be gone in a poof! After that, it is 5 days in a row again. *sigh* How come days at work drag on forever and days off fly by?

I was reading my Nordic Needle Newsletter on Monday and saw a mention to embroidery on paper. I checked out the books and they look interesting but are fairly expensive so I did a little search on the web and found a web site with some free patterns to try. This is what I came up with this afternoon. The body on the butterfly is little wooden beads. I think they are rather cute. They were fun to make but hard on my hands. I didn't require anything special to do them either. I just used a large quilting pin for the pricking, scrapbook card stock, embroidery floss and the cards are for pictures and I got them after Christmas last year so I already had them! Something different to distract me anyway! :-) Tomorrow it is back to my regular sewing. I am almost finished a butterfly pattern from My Aunt's Attic that is an exchange square on the Counting Our Blessings Board. After that it is back to my shamrock Sampler so I can get that out of the way and get to my nephew's wedding sampler. Dan and Chelsea are getting married December 15 so I don't have a lot of time.

My FIL was readmitted to the hospital via the ER on Saturday. He has internal bleeding and has been vomiting up blood. He is too sick and too weak to even do a scope to see where it is coming from. Right now, we are in a holding pattern since they are giving him medication to try and stop the bleeding and giving him blood as well. His blood pressure is getting dangerously low even with these measures. We are trying to protect my MIL from all that is going on but I don't know how long we can do that either.

What a sad mess we are in.

I finished this off this morning. By the time we got back from moving Tom's dad and having dinner last night I was too tired to be careful with the stitching so I didn't touch it. These are really fun to see come together but I have no clue how I will display them! My needlerolls are in a basket by my front door but they can stand on end. I don't know what I will do with these. I like them though.

We got my FIL into the nursing home but I don't know if I can stand to see him there. He has a pretty view out his window but there are no private rooms and the rooms are very small. While it is fairly nice as nursing homes go, it is older and dreary and smells. I don't know that this is going to work out at all. I have bought us some time though so I will call hospice on Monday and see how we go about getting some care if we bring him home. It is going to be really a chore though for us to do that juggling everything that has to be juggled. We will see. I think it has to happen though.

I am ready to put this one together I think. It is a pattern from Papillon Creations. I discovered them while browsing this weekend, and I really like a lot of their stuff. I love their "catch phrase" too: Let your Fingers Fly! The pattern is a freebie called Hearts and Flowers. I stitched it on 32 count linen from Silkweaver's Hand dyed collection with Anchor Variegated thread. The fabric color is Chocolate. It calls for some bead work and I am still debating that. I like it the way it is and 32 count fabric means you have to have really tiny beads!

This time instead of back stitching around the outside to join the two pieces, I cross stitched. I wanted more of a color border than I got with the backstitch so I can't wait to see how that goes.

On the hospital front we are stressing out more over what to do with my FIL than we are about the fact that he is dying. After being told on Sunday by the oncologist that he would not be moved until he finished his radiation (2 weeks) we got a call from his hospitalist asking us where we wanted him moved to! By that time Joe and Robin (Tom's brother and his wife) were on their way back to PA. Then we were given false information about what and how medicare would pay for the nursing home, told he qualified for in patient hospice care since he decided to stop treatment, told he didn't qualify for in patient hospice care since he might not be dead in the 5 days...(yes days) that medicare would pay for and then he would be moved to the nursing home after that... 3 moves in 5 days for a terminal patient??? What's the purpose of that?????? Then they wouldn't move him until he had a bed at the nursing home, now they are discharging him today no matter what. We don't have a clue what is going on but I am just about ready to go and get him from the hospital myself and screw them all. What it boils down to isn't what is right for the patient, it is "show me the money". What a miserable world.

Well with everything that has been going on this week, my "my" weekend just didn't happen. I was off Friday, Saturday and Sunday and was supposed to be at the Celebration of Needlework Conference in Louisville on Saturday. As my luck would have it, Tommy had a Battle Assessment weekend, Tom's brother and his wife came out from PA to see his dad and help make some decisions and my car decided that it may be time to be retired, so no trip for me.

In the end I guess the trip itself really didn't matter. I was too tired and too stressed to have really enjoyed myself anyway. Friday I made two 130 mile round trips to Maineville, OH where my son's unit is based. Saturday I convinced Tom to take him up in the morning and I spent most of the day just vegetating. I did a little on line shopping, played some Mahjongg, stitched a bit out in the sun and tried to relax. I left a little after 3 to get Tommy then stopped and picked up groceries for dinner at my mother in laws, came home a little after 8 and was in bed by 9. I was up again to take him to Maineville at 5 this morning.

The pulmonologist just called and wants to do the biopsy even though the swelling in his brain has not gone down enough to make it less risky. So the question is what do we do now. Do we let them do the procedure and take the chance he dies on the table or becomes brain damaged? If we do the biopsy and determine there is treatment to prolong life but not improve the quality do we opt for treatment? Nothing is going to change what has already happened. We can't erase it, we can't fix it,...What a position to be in.

Pray for us please.

Well I finally forced my FIL to go to the hospital last night as he has not eaten any food of consequence since last Wednesday. While I was there I started describing all his symptoms and mentioned that I thought he may have had a small stroke. The tested his neurological responses and ruled that out but decided to do a CT scan just to take a look and they discovered that he has four rather large tumors (quarter size) in his brain. Totally inoperable. There are more smaller ones as well. They are not alone since the cells that formed them came from somewhere. They admitted him last night and were running some tests today to see if they could find out where the cancer started but so far we have no news.

I am so sick of finding cancer around every day corner of my life. My grandmother,mother, my father, uncles, aunts, in laws everywhere I turn it rears it's ugly head. It has taken so may people that I love and maimed others. When they told me what was wrong last night I suddenly felt so hollow. I wonder sometimes about the resilience of humans. How we can stand so much and when does the breaking point finally come. Do we cease caring so we can't be hurt? Do we harden our hearts and look away? I wonder how we get through every day sometimes...sometimes I just wonder how I get through THIS day.

What a fun project. This is a freebie pattern from Dawn Lewis of The Needle's Work that you can find here if you are interested. The floss is an Anchor varigated pastel and the diamonds are Eterna silk. (LORD! What a great thread to work with!)

It was harder to put together than I thought but once I got going, I almost sewed it together without stuffing it. The bead in the center is czech glass with that magenta color swirled inside it. The pictures don't do it justice...

Now I am off to make another one! Woo hoo...what fun! I can't WAIT to see what I find at the Celebration of Needlework conference next week!!

Why is it that parent's feel that is it OK for their children to pitch a fit when they can't get their own way AND that is it OK to allow them to pitch this fit in public??

Now I am a mother, granted my kids are older now but it hasn't been THAT long since they were little. I have 2 nieces, 8 nephews and a multitude of little cousins that I spend time with and have spent time with and NONE of us (meaning the parents) ever allowed this behavior to occur. Now don't get me wrong, there are times when child get hurt and cries in public or a baby is over tired or hungry or whatever. That is one thing. I am speaking about kids that want a drink, or candy or book or toy or whatever and proceed to wail as if they have had a limb forcibly amputated while the parents just stand there and ignore them...or even worse, give them exactly what they are asking for so they do it over and over again.

Now I will admit that I am tired today and that we have been jam packed and short staffed at work and there is a level of stress induced annoyance speaking here but good grief! Not only would my children NOT have gotten what they were wailing for but they would have been taken out into the car until they could behave.

We worry so much about NOT diminishing a child's self esteem now that we have created children that walk all over us and everyone else.

Labor Day is a United States federal holiday that takes place on the first Monday in September. The holiday began in 1882, originating from a desire by the Central Labor Union to create a day off for the "working man". It is still celebrated mainly as a day of rest and marks the symbolic end of summer for many. Labor Day became a federal holiday by Act of Congress in 1894.

That's from Wikipedia...the source that knows everything except how I am supposed to get a holiday off. What a joke. We were absolutely slammed. Open from 7 AM until 6 PM and then people were mad that we were closing! Holy cannoli!! I was scheduled to work from 10-4 in the liquor room. I did that deliberately so I could work on my schedules for week 35. The phone rang off the hook, then to top it off, they were so busy and so many people had off (or were "sick") that there was no one to relieve me at 4 so I had to stay until 6. Sucked to be me! Oh well. I have my "ME" weekend in Louisville coming up so I will be glad for the extra money. Unfortunately, it won't show up until after I get back! LOL

I got some stitching in on my biscornu and broke out my Eterna silks to add to it and I am just loving it! I will post a picture as soon as I get one full side done. I have the backstitching done on both sides and am putting in the eyelets now. I can't wait to put it together. If I get off here, I may be able to get the stitching done tonight so I can put it together tomorrow since I don't have to be at work until 2:30. Thought I could sleep in but hubby has to be at his new job at 7:30 and he won't get his new truck until he gets there...and I am how he gets there!

OK, off to get the dog her pill and back to my stitching! Happy day to all those who labored!

You know, things have just seemed so over whelming for me for so long and a good part of that is having absolutely no downtime. What little time I have off from work I am doing housework or running someone somewhere or doing something for someone else...Today I planned a me day. This is the only day off I have in 10 days so I was bound and determined to not do any more than really necessary.

I sat out on the patio and had breakfast.
I finished reading Lisa Gardner's Alone.
I sat and dreamed through my fabric and thread stash to find something pretty for the Biscornu I am making for the Needle and Thread Board.

Then I had to get ready to take DS#2 to a parade where he was in the color guard for the Civil Air Patrol squadron that he belongs too. I dropped him off and headed for the end of the parade route. I did a little shopping at Big Lots and got some great beads and buttons to use in my stitching and when I got outside I could hear the sirens from the start of the parade as it got toward where we were. I got to see my son march as a color guard for the first time. They looked so nice and straight and tall. I was once again over whelmed to the point that I was finding it hard to swallow. My father was a color guard for his American Legion Post and for the VFW he belonged to for more years than I can count. I took one look at my son and could tell that my father would have been so very, very proud of him too. And I felt another torch being passed too. There have been so many of them this year. This turned out to really be a me day. :-)

The pictures are of them marching, The guard with Governor Fletcher and his wife and of the squadron in front of their now dismantled float that won best of show!